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Aerin Lauder's Newest Addition to the Estee Lauder Private Collection

FAMILY AFFAIR. *Left,*Jasmine White Moss, the latest fragrance in the Estee Lauder Private Collection; right, Aerin Lauder photographed at the launch of her first fragrance in the Private Collection. July 2007. Photo by Patrick McMullan.

"I remember visiting my grandmother's home in Palm Beach when I was around six years old," Aerin Lauder says. "She was sitting in her garden with Tom Joy from International Flavors and Fragrances, smelling lab samples for a new perfume." Encouraged by her mentor, whom she simply calls "Estee," Aerin recounts tinkering with the tiny vials, learning for the first time to decipher notes such as tuberose and gardenia, which would later become some of her favorite scents. "That moment was so special," she says. "Estee really influenced me in so many ways."

One of those ways is business. Today, Aerin serves as the senior vice president and creative director of Estee Lauder, the company her grandmother started in 1946. It's a demanding position that allows her to design and develop everything from fragrance notes to packaging, to advertising campaigns. "It was important to Estee that her family inherit her passion for work," Aerin says. "Not to mention her commitment to excellence."In 2007, inspired by a concept that her grandmother had conceived in 1973, Aerin updated the Private Collection. The idea was to introduce a luxurious, niche perfume to a discerning Estee Lauder clientele. "Estee was always working on several scents at once, and she kept a few of them exclusively for herself and a select group of friends," Aerin says. "Eventually, she decided to release her most loved one in small quantities." The first fragrance made available in Aerin's new Private Collection was Tuberose Gardenia, a sensual floral bouquet, which last year was followed by Amber Ylang Ylang, a heady, spicy perfume laced with notes of vanilla, incense, and sandalwood. This month, Aerin reveals the third installment: Jasmine White Moss, a "modern green" (as she puts it) scent that's available in a traditional parfum and a EDP spray, body cream, and a solid-perfume necklace pendant.

Unlike its predecessors, Jasmine White Moss took only a year for Aerin to develop. That's because the fragrance was about three-quarters complete, having been worked on by her grandmother in the late 80s. After discovering the abandoned original formula in the Estee Lauder fragrance library, Aerin was moved to finish it. "Not only was it the perfect complement to what we already had available in the Private Collection," she says. "It was important to me, personally, to see Estee's work through." Keeping her grandmother in mind, Aerin painstakingly ensured that each detail of the scent reflects Estee's taste and intentions—from the sparkling jasmine-, mandarin-, and black-currant-infused juice to the basket weave on the gold cap. "Even the semi-precious lapis and pearl-stone embellishments are a nod to her love of blue and white," Aerin says. "I wanted to feel her blessing." So confident that Estee would have approved of the end result, Aerin had her grandmother's signature incorporated in the design of the perfume bottle—as if to imply that the product's launch were a posthumous release. "It's something that she started and I've finished," says Aerin with a pause. "I think she would be very proud."

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Excerpts from Aerin Lauder's personal photo album. Aerin photographed with her grandmother Estee. < li>[#image: /photos/56cda5a0a0125ee03f19c6b3]|||aeringrandparents.jpg|||Aerin at age two with her grandpaernts, Estee and Joseph Lauder. < li>[#image: /photos/56cda5a0a0125ee03f19c6b6]|||dressup.jpg|||Aerin playing dress-up with her grandmother's clothes. < li>[#image: /photos/56cda5a0a0125ee03f19c6b1]|||dressup2.jpg|||Take two, Aerin playing dress-up with her grandmother's clothes.